cops don't respond to 911 call about a intruder because focused on Occupy march, man murdered

The family of Peter Cukor, killed by a mentally disturbed man outside his Berkeley hills home on February 18, filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the city.

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“Peter Cukor had called the Berkeley Police Department on their emergency number for help to request a police officer be sent to their home right away because the intruder was attempting to get inside the Cukor home and was acting strangely,” Van Blois said in a press release. “The police dispatcher promised to get someone to their home soon and the Cukors relied on this representation. In fact, the Berkeley Police Dispatcher never intended nor requested a police officer to respond and when a police officer called to say he could respond to the call, he was told not to go. Soon thereafter, the intruder attacked Peter Cukor and fatally struck him on the head with a flower pot.”

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But the police were in the middle of a shift change and were anticipating trouble from an Occupy march that was scheduled to go from Oakland to UC Berkeley that night. Top police officials wanted to brief the incoming officers on the march and ordered that no Priority 2 calls get answered.

One police officer allegedly called in to dispatch and offered to take any calls, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and the lawsuit. He was told not to respond.

The lawsuit charges that this diversion was negligent. Meehan has said that there were other Priority 2 calls in the hopper at the time, and there is no guarantee that the officer would have been sent to the Cukor home, which was two miles from the officer, who was at Shattuck and Cedar. The officer might have been sent to the other pending Priority 2 calls, which included a fire and another suspicious person, because they were closer, said Meehan.

Regardless, Berkeley police did not dispatch any officers to the Cukor home after that first call. But Peter Cukor thought the police were coming and was concerned they couldn’t find his driveway since it is in a remote spot, according to the lawsuit. So he walked back out to his driveway to try to get the police’s attention, according to the lawsuit. He once again encountered DeWitt, who attacked him.

Andrea Cukor then called 911 to report that the intruder was beating her husband. Police responded immediately and arrested DeWitt a short time later. He was charged with murder but the charges were stayed while he is treated at Napa Valley Hospital, a state mental institution.

1. Perhaps an out-of-court settlement will be reached, but...

The police are NOT charged with protecting citizens, numerous court cases have confirmed this. Police ARE charged with investigating crimes, gathering evidence, apprehending and holding suspects, and giving all of this to a state's attorney. That said, the priorities of this LEO stink.